Open Illinois.org http://www.openillinois.org Shining light on Illinois government Thu, 14 Jul 2011 18:39:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en CPS Inspector General Finds $800K of Questionable Spending The Chicago Public Schools’ inspector general found $822,000 in questionable spending under former school board presidents Michael Scott and Rufus Williams. The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

The expenses, Inspector General James M. Sullivan wrote in a report released Monday, undercut

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]]> http://www.openillinois.org/wasteful-spending/cps-inspector-general-finds-800k-of-questionable-spending/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cps-inspector-general-finds-800k-of-questionable-spending Update on Sunshine Unfortunately, Illinois took two steps back in the transparency movement last week during veto session. The first occurred in a move to deny Illinois citizens the right to ask for government employee performance evaluations through a Freedom of Information (FOIA)…

]]> http://www.openillinois.org/wasteful-spending/update-on-sunshine/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=update-on-sunshine Work on Industrial Arts Glass Studio Costs Illinois Taxpayers $71,000 According to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Grant Tracker website, the Little Black Pearl Workshop received a $71,000 grant to help complete the industrial arts glass studio, located at 1060 East 47th Street in Chicago.  Specifically the funds…

]]> http://www.openillinois.org/wasteful-spending/work-on-industrial-arts-glass-studio-costs-illinois-taxpayers-71000/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=work-on-industrial-arts-glass-studio-costs-illinois-taxpayers-71000 Illinois to Spend $150k to Upgrade Lighting The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity recently awarded a grant to the city of Chicago to help “with upgrading the lighting in the 34th Ward of Chicago, specifically on 115th Street from Vincennes Avenue to Lowe Avenue.”  The…

]]> http://www.openillinois.org/wasteful-spending/illinois-to-spend-150k-to-upgrade-lighting/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=illinois-to-spend-150k-to-upgrade-lighting Sunshine Standard All interested in government transparency, check out this new site, sunshinestandard.org, created by Sunshine Review.

The website aims to provide citizens and elected officials with model legislation and tools to launch reforms and expand the amount of information available…

]]> http://www.openillinois.org/liberty-leaders/sunshine-standard/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sunshine-standard New TIF in the Loop The city of Chicago has just approved 6 million dollars in tax increment financing (TIF) for Accretive Health Inc. “to pay for job training and the build-out costs” of a new facility, which will be located at 231 South LaSalle…

]]> http://www.openillinois.org/cook-county/new-tif-in-the-loop/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-tif-in-the-loop Illinois Pays $100k to Host a Football Game Between Two Out-of-State Universities The Chicago Football Classic Inc. received a $100,000 grant to assist in hosting the Chicago Football Classic.  According to the DCEO website the game “will feature Mississippi Valley State versus Southern University.”  Southern University is located in Baton Rouge,…

]]> http://www.openillinois.org/wasteful-spending/illinois-pays-100k-to-host-a-football-game-between-two-out-of-state-universities/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=illinois-pays-100k-to-host-a-football-game-between-two-out-of-state-universities Grant for Costumed Actors Costs Taxpayers $79K In 2009, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity awarded a $79,000 to the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition (search “Looking for Lincoln” – Grant #09337008).  The Grant was awarded to “cover costs associated with hosting a Living History…

]]> http://www.openillinois.org/wasteful-spending/grant-for-costumed-actors-costs-taxpayers-79k/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=grant-for-costumed-actors-costs-taxpayers-79k School Vendor Data Available on IllinoisOpenGov! What is your school district spending money on?

Check out some new spending data available on our spending transparency website, IllinoisOpenGov.org.

We have included school vendor information for you to check out! We’ll also be updating current information…

]]> http://www.openillinois.org/wasteful-spending/school-vendor-data-available-on-illinoisopengov/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=school-vendor-data-available-on-illinoisopengov Chicago Horticultural Society receives $250k for its Plant Conservation Science Center In 2009 the Chicago Horticultural Society received a $250,000 grant from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity “to assist in the development of the visitor interpretive features in the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science…

]]> http://www.openillinois.org/wasteful-spending/chicago-horticultural-society-receives-250k-for-its-plant-conservation-science-center/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicago-horticultural-society-receives-250k-for-its-plant-conservation-science-center